URBAN
Issue 3. June 2019. The Urban School of San
Trust me or track me: how cell phone tracking affects child-parent dynamics Web Editor
Phoebe Grandi A few years ago, cell phones were the newest frontier for teenage independence. With the increasing popularity of apps like Find My Friends, however, parents have turned teens’ cell phones into location trackers. Out of 53 Urban students who responded to a schoolwide survey regarding location tracking, 35.8% said that their parents always monitor their location, while 30.2% said they sometimes did and 34% said their parents never do. 20 out of 36 students said that they believed that their parents track their location to ensure their safety. 12 of the same 36 students said that they believed their parents simply do not trust them.
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Jenn Epstein, Urban Health teacher and parent of a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old, spoke to the complexities that surround the balance between safety and privacy. “Do parents have the right to know where their kids are all the time?” she said. “It’s so tough because it goes back to that trusting relationship. I know that kids feel like they are able to be more honest with their parents if their parents are more accepting of what they want to do, but I think as a parent it’s so hard to know.” “I always tell my parents where I’m going because I like having a close relationship with them,” said Urban student Stella Robinson ‘20, who always shares her location with her parents. continued on page 4...
Expectations and equity: Urban’s Eurotrip culture Clementine Daniel
Eurotrips have been an unspoken cornerstone of the post-graduation experience for countless past Urban students. Many see it as a time for them to experience the world and spend time with their high school friends one last time before venturing out into the world, but there are certainly some equity issues that arise from the tradition. While not all students go on such trips, those who do spend months planning the twoto-three-week trips that pass through multiple quintessential European cities such as London, Paris, and Barcelona. Clarke Weatherspoon, Dean of Equity and Inclusion at Urban, pointed out that the trips are “not an Urban activity” and that they are neither
Who really is Urban’s rival? Page 9
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sponsored nor encouraged by adults in the Urban community. Because they happen after graduation, it is not the school’s responsibility to have any particular stance on Eurotrips or any of the issues regarding equity and inclusion that they may present. “I wouldn’t want to set up in anyone’s mind that a right of passage for someone graduating from Urban is to take a Eurotrip,” Weatherspoon said. Current Senior Mookie Corpuz ‘19, however, is able to view this pressure in a slightly more positive light. “[It] gave me an excuse to convince my mom to let me go on a trip,” she said.
2 year vs. 4 year prom Pages 6 & 7
Boys lacrosse Page 10
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Achieving press but not progress: Governor Newsom’s moratorium on the death penalty Zella Lezak On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, announced a moratorium on the death penalty, temporarily pardoning 737 inmates on death row. While this suspension remains unprecedented, not everyone knows how much of an effect it will have on the criminal justice system. However, despite the lack of concrete change that the moratorium may result in, it has still received a great deal of press. “There’s been a lot of coverage on Gavin Newsom’s moratorium around
News and Features Editor the death penalty, which has its limits because it will only stay a moratorium until he is out of power. So it’s not any kind of formal ending to the practice,” Courtney Rein, English Department Chair and teacher of the new class, Voices of Incarceration, said. “My issue with all of the fanfare and all of the accolades that Gavin Newsom is getting is that getting rid of the death penalty isn’t actually getting rid of death sentences.” Rein said. continued on page 3...
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02 Senior prank evolves into senior celebration Tikloh Bruno-Basaing Blues values by targeting people and causing destruction. Assistant Head of Student Life Charlotte Worsley recalled one of the worst senior pranks in her time at Urban, when the senior class hung a tarp across the old library railing and filled it with water and live goldfish; to clean up the mess, the goldfish had to die. Harsh pranks like this, some 20 years ago, led Worsley
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For the past few decades, seniors have left their mark on Urban with an annual senior prank. The past few years have included pranks such as rearranging furniture, sleeping in classrooms, and having a dance party at school. Last year, the senior grade had an event at the school with fun surprise activities all to themselves. The next day, the class pranked the school by announcing they had all been suspended as a result of actions occurring the previous night. This year, for the class of 2019, there isn’t a senior prank. Instead, there was a similar event held for seniors at school with more activities to promote unity within the grade. Co-president of the Urban School Conor Robbins ‘19 explained the reasoning for the change: “The original idea behind the prank was to promote class unity, but it came at the expense of others in the same community. We can come up with something equally as fun with the same shock value.” The purpose of having a senior prank was to encourage bonding and connections, similar to many other grade events and trips held by Urban. By the nature of a prank, however, this process often failed to uphold the
Staff Writer
The original idea behind the prank was to promote class unity, but it came at the expense of others in the same community. We can come up with something equally as fun with the same shock value. — Conor Robbins
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and the Student Committee team to reconsider the tradition. The new concept for a senior event rather than a prank originated from
the co-presidents of the class of 2018, Abby Walker and Tonalli Vargas. The event included physical and engaging activities that allowed the senior grade to be together in isolation from the rest of the school for a night. It is similar to the past years when the seniors would congregate alone in the school the night before the unveiling of the prank, and they would have fun bonding activities to unite their group. The issue that arose many years ago was that the event came at the expense of the rest of the school and excluded all others. Robbins said that the new tradition shares the same spirit as the original pranks: “The positive goal of both different events is the same, but by leaving out the prank itself, the school can avoid all of the negative repercussions.” As explained by Charlotte Worsley, encouraging acts that have destructive or offensive potential is rarely beneficial. In the densely populated and expensive area of the Haight that Urban is in, “we can’t afford to piss off our neighbors,” said Worsley. With the installment of this new senior event and the end of pranking, there should be no dissapointment. The seniors themselves did not feel they are missing out,
as “the seniors themselves didn’t have as much motivation to do it and it became something that they had to do,” said Worsley. Worsley, who has always been involved in the planning of the pranks, does not have to do something at the expense of the community she helps run. Additionally, there are no students or faculty that will have to deal with the mess from the seniors’
The evolution of this tradition is a result of trying to create a more positive environment for not only the graduating class but those who will be here in the future. pranks. The evolution of this tradition is a result of efforts to create a more positive environment for not only the graduating class but those who will be here in the future. Though the final decision to end the prank was made by the administration, the shift is meant to benefit everyone, including the students.
San Francisco awaits the opening of new Warriors stadium Wes Peters On September 15, 2015, the owners of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors announced plans to build their dream arena, which will be situated in San Francisco, across the bay from their current home in Oakland, CA. About a year-and-a-half later, Oakland-based NFL team the Raiders announced plans to move to Las Vegas by 2020. Two out of the Oakland’s three major sports teams are leaving, with only the Major League Baseball team, the Oakland Athletics, remaining, and residents from both San Francisco and Oakland have conflicting opinions.
News/Features Editor land and their dedicated fans there. San Franciscans also have concerns about the new stadium, most of them about traffic and more people coming to the city for games. Walsh talked about how the stadium is next to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, causing worries from the community that “ambulances going to the hospital will be much less efficient.” This has been a major cause of conversation since the announcement of the stadium, even prompting a group of UCSF donors to fight the stadium in court. For Oakland, the main concern with the Warriors leaving is that the loss of
two major sports teams will be a blow to the economy, according to the New York Times. Some think the move will insult a community that was with the Warriors through thick and thin; a community that helped make them the championship team they are now. The Warriors were a pillar of strength for the community, and their relocating will leave a hole. While the Warriors’ owners and leadership continue to say that they are simply leaving a stadium and not Oakland, Oakland fans often refer to how the Warriors were originally named the San Francisco Warriors, as
reported by CBS. However, once they moved to Oakland they changed their name to the Golden State Warriors and not the Oakland Warriors. Now, with the Warriors moving again, the owners have stated that the team will remain named the Golden State Warriors. With upset fans from both sides of the bay, the Warriors are preparing to make the move to San Francisco. Their brand new one billion dollar Chase Center will be opening for the 2019-2020 season, ending the era of Oracle Arena.
After years of losing, the Warriors improved by winning three championships and promptly left Oakland and their dedicated fans there. Zach Walsh ‘21, a Warriors fan with season tickets, is happy about the team’s move to San Francisco because “they’re going to be closer to [his] house,” making games easier to get to. This is a plus for some San Franciscan fans of the Warriors, but according to The Mercury News, Oakland fans are angry about the Warriors’ betrayal and other previously nonexistent hassles that exist because of the new stadium. More so, after years of losing, the Warriors improved by winning three championships and promptly left OakThe new Warriors stadium, Chase Center, under construction on September 21, 2018. Photo Credit: Dale Cruse.
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Achieving press but not progress: Governor Newsom’s moratorium on the death penalty Zella Lezak
News/Features Editor horrible things… I think that there are much better reasons to end the death penalty other than it’s expensive. For example, 1/9 of people that are sentenced to death are later found to be innocent, [there are] racial disparities in the death penalty, and... it’s morally wrong for the state to use that kind of power.” When thinking back to the roots of mass incarceration and the death penalty, Loehr said, “So much of what we do in this country is still a legacy of slavery and the lynching that followed and the civil rights that followed… I think that our views of the death penalty are still related to this idea of white supremacy in this country and a strong desire to punish and control minority populations… particularly African Americans.” According to Loehr, systemic op-
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Newsom has been reversing those decisions in a much larger proportion than the previous governor, Governor Brown. So I think that while on paper he’s willing to go out on a limb and say ‘ok we’re not going to kill anybody,’ he is also making a very politically conservative approach to keeping people in prison. — Alison Hardy
30 states, including California, have the death penalty. Source: deathpenaltyinfo.org. Infographic credit: Kian Nassre.
Robert Weisberg, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, explained how the moratorium fits into a larger national story of capital punishment: “No one’s been executed [in California] for about 13 years, he said. “I think Newsom’s action on the death penalty won’t so much have a direct effect on criminal justice. Again, it really doesn’t apply very widely, but it’s kind of a symbolic statement that [says] it’s time to rethink the tough-on-crime principles,” Weisberg said. While the moratorium has been receiving a lot of press and praise, it remains uncertain how much the change in policy will actually impact the system of capital punishment and mass incarceration, which are both key parts of the criminal justice system. With the recent acclaim of books like “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander and “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson as well as the documentary “13th” by Ava DuVernay, the American public, now more than ever,
scrutinizes its incarceration system more intensely. According to the New York Times, Newsom wants to start a trend of unraveling America’s strong relationship with the death penalty. However, not all are convinced that
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Newsom’s... moratorium on the death penalty is fairly politically safe...What Newsom has been doing at the same time, which I find very troubling, is that there are people who are serving life sentences in the prisons who are considered for parole. — Alison Hardy
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Newsom’s moratorium was as radical as it was made out to be. Alison Hardy, Senior Staff Attorney at the Prison Law Office said, “Newsom’s... mora-
torium on the death penalty is fairly politically safe...What Newsom has been doing at the same time, which I find very troubling, is that there are people who are serving life sentences in the prisons who are considered for parole…, [and] Newsom has been reversing those decisions in a much larger proportion than the previous governor, Governor Brown. So I think that while on paper he’s willing to go out on a limb and say ‘ok we’re not going to kill anybody’ he is also making a very politically conservative approach to keeping people in prison,” she said. Another one of the more popular arguments protesting the death penalty is the enormous cost that it takes to uphold. According to the New York Times, “One study, in 2011, found that California pays $184 million a year to sustain capital punishment — or close to an accumulated $5 billion since the practice was reinstituted in 1978.” However, the cost is not the most important factor of the anti-capital punishment argument for everyone. Law Fellow at the Equal Justice Initiative, Daniel Loehr said, “People are willing to pay a lot of money to do
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pression and lack of action lead to a situation where it can be difficult to think about the next steps for finding an equitable criminal justice system. “I hope that eventually, we’ll see the elimination of the death penalty in this country,” Loehr said, “but I don’t think that will actually happen until we have a more successful and deeper conversation about the history of slavery, because the states with the largest numbers of slaves were also the states with the highest numbers of per capita capital punishment. Once there’s a broad understanding of that history, I think that people will no longer feel comfortable living in a state that executes people.”
Executions rose in the 90s and have since declined in the United States. Source: deathpenaltyinfo.org. Infographic credit: Kian Nassre.
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Features
Trust me or track me: how cell phone tracking affects child-parent dynamics Pheobe Grandi “For example, if I’m nervous about going to one place, in particular, I’ll just like to tell them. I’ve never really thought about not telling them where I go; it’s not like I think, ‘I want to go somewhere, but because my parents
track my location I won’t,’” she said. Robinson’s mother, Catherine Robinson, said, “we hope that Stella is truthful and honest about where she is in the first place. If she is going to a party, we hope that she is telling us that because we don’t have a problem with her going to those things. I think it’s
An Urban student looks at the Find My Friends app. Photo credit: Phoebe Grandi.
better for her that she feels comfortable telling us so if she really is in danger that we actually know ‘ok that’s not where she said she was going to be.’” Francesca Rodoni ‘20, however, believes that location tracking has negatively affected her relationship with her mother. “She does it to catch me in a lie a lot,” she said. “She’ll ask where I am and if I lie she’ll say ‘why does your phone say you’re somewhere else.’ I think it’s veered away from that whole protection thing and turned into more of a ‘prove me wrong’ thing.” What caused this skewed balance between trust and location tracking? “It’s a power dynamic,” Rodoni said. “I don’t really have the power to question or challenge [my mother], so I just have to assume that she always tracks my location. As a result, I have to be more open, blunt and honest
with my parents. I know this is what they value, but it’s not necessarily what I’m comfortable sharing, like who I am hanging out with, what time I’m out and where I am going,” she said.
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I don’t really have the power to question or challenge [my mother], so I just have to assume that she always tracks my location. — Francesca Rodoni ‘20
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Echoing Rodoni’s concern, Epstein said, “I tell myself it’s safety but I wonder if there is a little something behind that. I think that control is a big piece of it. It sucks to watch a kid screw up and make a mistake, and as kids get older the stakes get so much higher and the consequences can be fairly bad, but I think kids need to take risks. They need to make some mistakes in order to learn.”
Trump cannot ban birthright citizenship, but states can undermine the constitutional right Sally Cobb Even though President Trump has not signed an executive order or changed the words of the Fourteenth Amendment, a threat to birthright citizenship in the U.S. is on the rise. In October 2018, Trump proposed signing an executive order that would end birthright citizenship, specifically for children of undocumented immigrants. “We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States… with all those benefits,” Trump said during an interview with Axios. “It’s ridiculous. And it has to end.” The president affirmed that the ban could happen “with an executive order.” Birthright citizenship is a constitutional American right that guarantees the citizenship of children born in the United States, regardless of their parentage. The Fo u r t e e n t h Amendment’s protection of birthright citizenship has remained relatively undisturbed or challenged by any presidential administration until recently. Its first sentence reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein please recycle
News/Features Editor they reside.” This amendment intended to overturn the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, which ruled that black
The Fourteenth Amendment says that all people born in the U.S. are citizens and that those citizens cannot be denied “equal protection of the law,” but this amendment has not gone undisputed. In 1900, the Supreme Court was confronted with the case of Wong Kim Ark, who was born in the U.S. from Chinese immigrant parents. The Chinese Exclusion Act barred his parents from gaining U.S. citizenship, so they remained citizens of China. After visiting China, Ark was refused re-entry in San Francisco on the grounds that he assumed
Illustration credit: Sally Cobb.
people in America, even if they were free slaves or the children of free slaves, could not claim citizenship.
the same Chinese citizenship of his parents, and therefore was not a citizen of the U.S.. However, in United States
v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did, in fact, secure U.S. citizenship for those born on American soil. One of the Justices in the case wrote that “the bonds of citizenship derive from people’s place of birth, not from their blood.” When Trump threatened to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., many argued that United States v. Wong Kim Ark already settled this issue, yet others believed the language of the ruling only includes children of legal immigrants. Although birthright citizenship has been challenged in cases like the one of Wong Kim Ark, no president before Trump has threatened to dismantle it. Trump is not and has never been silent about his immigration agenda, especially regarding undocumented immigrants. To end birthright citizenship, Trump would either have to write a new constitutional amendment in order to clarify the meaning of the Fourteenth or sign an executive order — the approach he believes to be more accessible. Regardless of the
choice, many believe either option would be greeted with incredible judicial and legislative backlash. Greg Monfils, Urban History and English teacher, said,
Features Texas claims that the foreign IDs of the undocumented mothers are not official nor valid, and therefore, they cannot obtain their child’s birth certificate. “This is really horrific,” Argenal
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“there is a lengthy history of cases and commentary and legislation protecting the children of undocumented immigrants….the Fourteenth Amendment is not to be messed with.” Monfils believes that since Trump would have to go through countless legislative steps to get a ban, “it’s not going to happen.” So far, a ban on birthright citizenship has had little legislative momentum, but organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) frequently pick up cases in which birthright citizenship is threatened. In an interview with the Urban Legend, Amy Argenal, Director of Service Learning, mentioned an ACLU lawsuit in which the Texas Department of State Health Services denied undocumented mothers the birth certificates of their U.S.-born children.
05 Because they have undocumented parents, they’re now [facing] a whole a new range of [obstacles]. - Amy Argenal
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said, “because what then happens is [the children] can’t enroll in schools, they can’t access medical [care]... because they have undocumented parents, they’re now [facing] a whole a
new range of [obstacles].” Although it is not legal, these children are excluded from the basic privileges of U.S. citizens that are theoretically protected through the Fourteenth Amendment. States’ refusal to issue birth certificates is not the only way of undermining birthright citizenship. There are countless cases regarding citizens who get denied passport renewal or issuance in areas close to the Mexico-U.S. border for reasons not backed by the law. According to the Washington Post, The State Department in Texas said that it “has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications [and] the U.S.-Mexico border region happens to be an area of the country where there has been a significant incidence of citizenship fraud.” While Texas claims
that their policies have not been revised in order to undermine birthright citizenship, the State Department uses instances of citizenship fraud — people claiming birth on U.S. soil to gain citizenship — to justify denial of legal passport renewal and issuance, ultimately challenging their citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth. Although an official ban of birthright citizenship by the government is unlikely, the U.S. is still faced with the dangerous reality that this constitutional right is being undermined at the state level. However, Argenal said that “the ACLU and other organizations are ready to step up [and] already have the cases in line, [so] it’ll be challenged at every step of the way.”
Tensions rise between Urban’s teaching philosophy and the national popularity of AP testing Kian Nassre AP tests. That very phrase is uttered increasingly often due to their escalating role in the US. But while the Urban School of San Francisco may feel the pressure to conform to the increased presence of AP testing nationwide, it also feels the drive to preserve its depth-over-breadth teaching style. Advanced Placement (AP) tests are typically taken at the end of an AP course. AP tests are administered by the College Board, and the course curriculum is purchased by schools from the College Board. Each test corresponds to a specific subject (sometimes to different difficulty levels) and is scored on a scale of one to five. At Urban, there are no AP courses. Instead, there are Urban Advanced Studies (UAS) classes. According to Urban’s Director of College Counselling Lauren Gersick, UAS classes are of a comparable level of difficulty to AP course but are not tailored towards the tests. “UAS is faculty designed; it’s playing to the expertise of our very adept teachers. It allows more flexibility since we value depth over breadth and how to think instead of what to think. The core academic values of Urban are reflected in the way we teach,” Gersick said. Urban School Science Department Chair Matthew Casey is versed in the differences between the AP tests and Urban’s UAS classes. “The APs teach a wide breadth of content that you memorize but don’t go deep into; you take the test then you forget it. Our courses are designed more thematically rather than rushing through all of it” Casey said. The Physics 1 and Physics 2 exams, for instance, each have a sampling of topics covered in the UAS physics course sequence. This difference in structure and order
Staff Writer of content results in a disconnect between the Physics AP exams and the way that Urban students think about physics. Furthermore, when it comes to physics, other sciences and indeed all APs, Urban’s curriculum does not sync up 100% with the AP courses. For instance, the Urban calculus curriculum matches up with the Calculus AB test rather well, but leaves out several topics in the Calculus BC test. For Math, Science and Language, Urban has tutorial periods that run in the late winter and early spring trimesters to close the knowledge gap between the UAS courses and the full AP curriculum. This system is the successor to the six-week courses that Urban had a decade ago. Before they stopped due to philosophical and logistical reasons, these courses allowed Urban students to study for an AP course during one of their normal block classes, then switch into another class, such as Art as a Daily Practice, for the final six
ing to move fast, so it’s a lot of work. We have had good results even though we … moved it into one hour a week instead of [four] … People at Urban who have done the work they should to prepare tend to succeed on the AP exam.” While the number of students who take AP tests at Urban each year has remained in the 50s and 60s for the past five years, the popularity of individual tests had fluctuated. In this time period, the chemistry exam’s popularity at Urban fell by a half, while the English exam has quadrupled in interest. However, a constant is that AP test participation at Urban is low relative to the number of Urban students qualified to take an exam (ie, students taking UAS chemistry vs those taking
Average scores varied between AP tests in 2018. Source: College Board. Infographic credit: Kian Nassre.
the AP chemistry exam). Nationally, by contrast, AP testing has skyrocketed in popularity. According to the National Center for Education Statistics and the College Board, from 2002 to 2018, the number of high school graduates per year increased by 24%, while the number of students who took AP tests increased by 211%. (This second statistic is inflated by the fact that an increasing but hard-to-pindown number of students take The number of Urban students who participated in several AP tests over the past five years. weeks. According to Math Department Chair, Parisa Safa, the new T period system may be enough. “For the [Calculus] BC exam there is a lot more content … [the Tutorial prep] is go-
The populatity of AP Testing has grown at a faster rate than the U.S. high school population. Source: National Center for Education Statistics, College Board. Infographic credit: Kian Nassre.
AP tests in multiple years, but the rate of participation in APs still rose). AP testing nationwide has morphed into several different meanings over the past few decades. “It used to be that you were proving that you had done college-level work in high school. That has evolved … A score of four or five could place you in higher level college classes or get you college credit in certain courses,” Gersick said. However, the implications of AP tests are shifting on the college front. “I would put a large asterisk on [getting college credit from AP scores] because that has decreased by a large amount in frequency in the past few decades,” Gersick said. “Fewer colleges offer credits and more require perfect scores to get that credit. Public institutions like the UCs tend to be the most generous with those, which is a big part of why we still offer [AP tests] at Urban.” Even though APs continue to be out of sync with Urban’s philosophy, Urban will continue to offer students the opportunity to take the AP tests. “I agree that we need to continue offering APs because if [an Urban student] can come in with some credits... it helps [them] take a couple of fewer classes that could prevent them from having to pay for another term in college,” Gersick said. “It allows them to move through college a little bit faster if they want to, because, as much as [college] is a developmental and fun time, it is a huge financial burden.”
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06 Opinion: Two-year prom would make a more meaningful high school experience Eli Gordon In my three years at Urban, I’ve gone to prom three times. Each time, it’s been fun to dress up, take photos and dance with my friends. It may come as a surprise, then, that I believe four-year prom negatively impacts students’ experiences at Urban. In countless movies and TV shows, we are reminded that American prom is supposed to be an essential rite of passage that, for seniors, celebrates the last moments of high school, and, for juniors, marks the beginning of their leadership in the school community. But Urban’s prom, which is open to all four grades, values casual fun at the expense of a richer experience. As Charlotte Worsley, Head of Student Life, reminded us before this year’s prom, Urban’s administration has concluded that important events must be open to the entire school. But the consequence of this decision is that Urban’s prom — an event that should feel novel and exciting — ends up feeling routine. After three years of attendance (as a junior, I can’t speak for the senior experience), the novelty of a fancy school dance wears off. This is where our prom fails Urban students most: Right when it should mark a milestone in our high school years, it loses the excitement that lends the event its traditional power. Beyond prom, Urban as an institution lacks traditions that celebrate the growth that takes place as students mature during our time in high school. Compared to our glut of all-school events, like the fall dance, winter formal, triple-header and spring prom, we have few moments that emphasize the uniqueness of each grade. The contin-
Editor-In-Chief would ground students in the Urban experience, marking it as a unique milestone of growing up. By creating a more intimate environment, it would make the event even more enjoyable, community-building, and something worth remembering. Supporters of four-year prom may argue that it fosters a casual environment — given four chances to attend prom, students feel less pressure about each year’s event. However, four-year prom simply dilutes the pressures and expenses throughout four years rather than actually reducing them. Exchanging a bit of concentrated pressure for a more significant experience is a trade that I am willing to accept. While the Urban community can agree that students enjoy four-year prom, two-year prom would be even more fun. What matters is that prom is something students will anticipate, enjoy and remember. Ultimately, we forget the experiences that feel routine, but we remember what’s twice-in-alifetime. ual reduction in class days, which have historically served to prompt reflection, compounds this problem (we’re down to only one day next fall!). While there are moments that celebrate each year’s passage, there are few that celebrate the passage and significance of the entire four years of the Urban experience. That nebulous, undefinable thing — the Urban experience — becomes reduced to four nearly-identical cycles: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. Two-year prom, which would limit attendance to upperclassmen, could become one of those celebrations. Two-year prom has nothing to do with whether or not anyone wants freshmen at prom, to quote the oft-stated reason for maintaining a four-year
Prom, in my view, should celebrate those two rites of passage: Finishing high school and becoming a leader in the school community.
event. The issue is that prom does not differentiate itself from any other dance. Prom should represent something more than a glorified fall dance, albeit with food, a cooler venue, and fancier clothes. It should be meaningful, and one would be hard-pressed to find anybody who believes that the fall dance — while often fun — is a meaningful experience. Prom, in my view, should celebrate those two rites of passage: Finishing high school and becoming a leader in the school community. Because Urban is such a small school, a single two-year prom open to both juniors and seniors would serve both of these functions. In this new conception, prom would become something to look forward to as a milestone and would serve as a moment of reflection and celebration. It would be novel rather than a given. It
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07 American family spent $919 on their prom-going teen. Urban students feel less pressure to spend such a large amount because having prom all four years alleviates some of the pressure to purchase extravagant outfits and pay for other costly beauty services such as hair, makeup and nails. Four-year prom also lowers the ticket cost per person. By having a larger pool of students to pay for tickets, the school is able to hold prom at expensive venues like the Bentley Reserve while keeping the price at $90 before financial aid. Though not a small sum, this amount seems affordable compared to other private San Francisco high schools’ ticket prices. Four-year prom creates an environment that is inclusive, unified, and
The four-year prom at Urban fosters an enviroment of inclusion and increases unity between grades.
Opinion: Four-year prom is an important Urban tradition Zoe Lusk Prom can be a stressful experience. The pressure to look flawless, have a date, go to a party and experience the best night of your life can be overwhelming. Freshman year, I remember spending hours online shopping for the perfect dress. I dreaded the day of prom, thinking that I would feel like an outsider as a freshman. However, my assumptions were proven wrong. At Urban prom, tiny freshman boys with
Visuals Editor bowties could dance with junior girls in heels. I saw my classmates in floorlength gowns and fur coats bouncing around with students in sneakers. The four-year prom at Urban fosters an environment of inclusion and increases unity among grades. As our student body has grown, divisions between grades have widened. The school even lost its legendary all-school camping trip in 1993, which served to
unify the student population. As we have lost much of what made Urban unique, excluding underclassmen from prom would betray the values that Urban stood for in the past. The Urban
celebrates all members of the Urban School instead of just upperclassmen. It also gives students four opportunities to have the prom of their dreams, instead of having to pin all of their hopes on one night.
Having prom all four years transforms prom into a more casual event and helps many students feel completely comfortable going alone. School website lists one of our core values as promoting a “strong, inclusive community.” Separating upperclassmen and lowerclassmen for prom directly contradicts that statement and would only serve to fracture our community. Also, restricting prom to solely juniors and seniors would send the message that underclassmen are less valued within the Urban community than upperclassmen. According to what we see represented in the media, prom is an event in which the worst of American traditions and stereotypes emerge. For students who do not quite fit into the classic idea of an American teenager, prom can be a nightmare. The overwhelming pressure to have a date of the opposite sex is stressful for anyone who doesn’t know who to bring or does not feel like their date fits into the heteronormative expectations for prom. Having prom all four years transforms Urban’s prom into a more casual event and helps many students feel completely comfortable going alone, defying the cliché of the classic prom experience. Four-year prom also helps to relieve some of the financial strain that a big event such as prom can put on students and their families. According to a Visa survey in 2015, the average
Urban students pose for photos at prom on Saturday, May 11th. Photo credit: Prom Photo Booth
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Urban Culture
Who really is Urban’s rival? Ian Ryan
Sports Editor
Rivalries are a core part our closest rival would be of sports, from El Clasico Urban, just based on the between Barcelona and size of our schools. But Real Madrid to the Bruce with Oracle [the annual Mahoney match between basketball game held at San Francisco high schools Oracle Stadium between Sacred Heart Cathedral Lick-Wilmerding and UniPreparatory and Saint versity] and everything, Ignatius College Preparait’s definitely much more tory. These rivalry games meaningful for us to beat amplify the emotional University, and because of value of the sport by both that I’ve got to say that our pushing the competing rival is University,” Rathje teams to work harder to said. win and making victory If neither more valuable for the fans Lick-Wilmerding nor Unisupporting them. As a priversity considers Urban to vate school in the heart be their rival, then there of San Francisco, Urban is no reason for Urban to has plenty of relationthink differently. In reality, ships with similar schools. Urban can compete with a However, it’s fairly hard to variety of different schools Urban students cheer on their fellow Blues at a basketball game against Lick-Wilmerding. Photo credit: Kathryn Doorey. narrow down who Urban’s no matter the sport. Skiffer ‘rival’ school is. said, “more than anything, know they’re not celebrating or ringLick-Wilmerding and Urban’s basMaxPreps, one of the main sources I think it just depends on the team. ing a bell when they beat us.” ketball teams have created a tradition for statistics on high school sports, lists For basketball at this point, it’s probAnother school that Urban has of annual triple-header basketball University High School as Urban’s ably Lick-Wilmerding. For soccer now, a complex relationship with is matches, adding a level of excitement rival school for all sports teams. For you’d probably want to beat Marin Lick-Wilmerding High School, who, for the fans. much of Urban’s history, this has been Academy more than anyone else.” as another private school similar to UrWhen asked about these rivalries, true. Joe Skiffer, the athletic director He believes that other schools do not ban in academic rigor, stands out as a students from other schools had differand basketball coach at Urban, said, consider themselves to be rivals with likely rival. “We actually tried creating ing answers. University student Henry “for a long time, even before I got here, Urban, and therefore there shouldn’t a competition called the Apple Cup Gorelik ‘19 said, “I think that Urban is we had something called a Red-Blue be any need to force a school to fit that between our school and theirs,” Skiffer a really good school, and their sports Bell, which we would ring each time role. As Joe intended when he got rid said. “It was going to be a competition teams have definitely gotten a lot betwe beat University.” Although this bell of the Red-Blue Bell, accepting the of nine different sports with an overall ter over the last few years. However, was brought back once again during lack of a ‘rival school’ gives Urban winner.” While this competition never I’d say that our biggest rival is either Joe’s tenure as Athletic Director, he athletes the opportunity to push themcame into existence due to a variety of Lick or Marin Academy.” has since retired it. “I want to bring a selves to compete in every matchup, complicating factors, Lick-Wilmerding Ruben Rathje ‘20, a Lick-Wilmerdlevel of normalcy to beating Universiembracing all challenges and creating and Urban have continued to compete ing student, had a similar perspective. ty, and not celebrate it,” he said. “You a culture where every game matters. in many sports since then. Recently, “Honestly, it should make sense that
Expectations and equity: Urban’s Eurotrip culture Clementine Daniel Tara Kamali ‘19 has been planning and looking forward to her friend group’s three-week summer trip all year. “It’s a great moment in time where we’re all leaving each other and going to different schools and [can] have this last culmination moment,” she said. “We get to go off into new places, be free of all our worries, and party.” However, multiple issues arise from these trips regarding who can afford to go. Between lodging, flights, transportation, food and day-to-day expenses, the costs are high, but Kamali’s group has worked particularly hard to keep costs down for their trip. “I think the idea of a Eurotrip can be something that you’d think would be $6000 or crazy expensive,” Kamali said. However, Kamali and her six friends have budgeted so that each one will
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be spending $1500, not including dayto-day expenses. She added that going to less mainstream cities in Eastern Europe, like Prague and Vienna, are cheaper and equally as interesting. Kamali recently got a job and works
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... continued from cover.
Managing Editor
It’s important to keep in mind that going on a trip isn’t something that every kid can do, and paying for a trip isn’t something every parent can do. Tara Kamali ‘19
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27 hours a week to save up money to pay for her trip expenses. “I’m from a lower socio-economic background, and going on
trip like this isn’t something that comes easily for my parents,” she said. “It’s important to keep in mind that going on a trip isn’t something that every kid can do, and paying for a trip isn’t something every parent can do.” Ben Slater ‘07, English Teacher, acknowledged that while it may be a difficult conversation to have, it is important for many students to question the value of the trip. “What kind of friend groups are you in where you do things that not everyone can do?” he said. “Is it about the friend group, or is it just about some image that you want to put on Instagram?” Slater remembered not feeling a strong desire to go on a Eurotrip following his graduation, although it was just as common then as it is today. “I was sort of drifting away from my friend group… I stayed close to my friends but was sort of tired of the group dynamics,” he said, which made him less inclined to want to take the time to travel with his friends following
graduation. In many ways, going on a Eurotrip is akin to being able to afford lunch on Haight street during school. Many students’ family situations grant them certain privileges that others do not have; however, Urban tries to provide more accessible options in their program, such as financial aid for food at school or on Urban-sponsored trips. “We try to make [school] trips available for all students regardless of their financial situation, and we set them up so that they can be as equitable and educational as possible,” Weatherspoon said. Eurotrips, by contrast, are completely out of the school’s control. Yet while most students recognize the difficult situation that paying for a Eurotrip presents for some of their friends, the culture around going on them has not changed. “This is everything about privilege at Urban,” Slater said. “We see how messed up some things are, but we still do them.”
Illustration credit: Loki Olin
Urban Culture Mark Salkind, Head of School at the Urban School of San Francisco, and Clarke Wheatherspoon, Dean of Equity and Inclusion, are leaving the Urban community this year. The Urban Legend staff sat down with them to talk about their experiences. Kyra (K): What season or month of the school year will you miss the most and why? Mark (M): I’ll probably miss September the most. There’s just something about that energy of starting up again that is intoxicating in the sense that things can be different. You can make changes, you can maybe correct some things for yourself that you didn’t like in the previous year, and just that sense of possibility that forms as you think about the school year to come. K: Out of both of Urban’s buildings, do you have an all-time favorite classroom? M: Yes, Aerie. I think it’s beautiful. It’s just a beautiful kind of seminar room. And it has one window in it. It’s on the eastern side in the corner that used to be, I’m not sure if it’s true anymore, but it used to be that when the blinds are up you can actually see the very tip of the Transamerica building and I just think the skyline is beautiful. K: Do you have any advice for Urban students? M: Yeah, lean in. Really stretch yourself. Challenge yourself and be generous. Bring a spirit of generosity to school. Urban is a school that is not quite as straightforward as other schools with the education that it delivers in that it relies, to a large extent, on students really pushing themselves to their fullest. And sometimes that means trying some new things and taking some risks and maybe ending up being wrong. K: I know a lot of people are wondering what exactly a Blue is. What does ‘being a Blue’ mean to you? M: Well, a blue is someone who’s cool. The blues are a state of mind more than they’re a mascot. It’s someone
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who challenges themselves and who pushes themselves and who perseveres. Someone who doesn’t give up. I would also say somebody who embraces their inner nerd and to take an athletic mask off and take it back to more of a cerebral domain. The origin of Blues is interesting. We didn’t have a school mascot, but we kind of had an underground mascot, the Urban guerrilla - not the animal. And so it was a long time ago, about twenty-five years ago, we were trying to develop a mascot. We got these presentations from some students. And so this group of young men came out, and they had a couple of saxes and a few other instruments right in the middle of St. Agnes and they were performing. And they said “we think Kyra Nagle it should be the blues.” So it’s not so much a thing or an animal as a sort of a state of mind, and a set of habits. I think it’s a habit of engaging and believing that you can jump into something and listen while contributing and learning about it.
meetings I have attended, it’s about three- or four-hundred so that I can let go of, but I am going to miss the people who are here now and have been for the past several decades, and just the whole community.
Kyra (K): Can you explain where you’re going after you leave Urban and what exactly you’ll do there?
Mark
&
Clarke
Clarke (C): I’m going to be the Middle School head at San Francisco Friends School. K: Tell me about your experience at Urban and what you’ve learned here.
C: I’ve learned a lot being at Urban. I came to Urban when I was twenty-six years old, and I Urban Culture think I came to Editor Urban because it was the best school that I could work at. I taught at Marin Academy and at Sacred Heart and on the peninsula, and I applied to jobs at Urban’s competitor schools. I applied to Branson, Lick, and University, and Urban was by far my favorite. It was really exciting to come to a place that had really good teachers and really excited students, and I think that’s held true throughout the years.
say farewell to the Urban community
K: Do you have any regrets from your time at urban? M: I have regrets, no huge ones. I’d have liked to have been here when the new Performing Arts Center’s completed. I went to the spring concert and they did this song that was kind of thanking me at the end of it, which was amazing and this screen dropped down and showed this history of all music program development by a syncopated view. And the arts are so important, and it’s so well done here. And so that would have been nice to see. K: What are you most looking forward to after you leave Urban? M: No more 8:20 meetings! I don’t know. I’m going to miss the community. It’s a learning community, in the most profound and powerful way. I think I can let go of the work. I was just thinking about how many board
When I came to Urban I was a fulltime history teacher. So I taught 9A and 9B, Remaking America, Comparative Religion, the Middle East Class, the Elections class, service learning, and then I was the Freshman and Sophomore Dean.
C: I think that’s really hard. It’s hard to say, because leading Multi Culti, for example, is really exciting and really challenging, and it’s a major element of my job. I think it’s really great, and I have a lot of respect for the students that have come through there. They’ve done a lot of work in the group and the community, and they’ve had to put up with me. One of the things I’ve said to the faculty multiple times in faculty meetings is that I’ve always been really proud to be a teacher here. It’s a real privilege and a real honor to be a teacher here, and a huge part of that is the people that I work with. I think that all of the teachers here are really amazing, and they have definitely been the highlight of my time at Urban. I think that Urban is a really magical place. I really love the One Acts, Peer Ed Theater, the Point Reyes trip, and getting to talk with all of my incredible colleagues. I think the people here are really what make this place magical. K: Is there anything else you would like to say to the Urban community? C: I’ve said this many times, but I think Urban is the best high school around. I am the child of an educator, and I’ve been at a lot of different schools, and I’ve seen a lot of different schools, and I think that Urban is a wonderful place. There have been many years that I considered myself to be in the running to work at Urban for the rest of my career, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all — I think it’s great. I think that Urban students are inheriting a wonderful history of student engagement, enthusiasm, independence, respect and joy in learning. And even though for many Urban students, it will be the only high school experience that they have, it’s one that I hope they all really value. I hope that these students go out and do something great.
K: What made you want to be Dean of Equity and Inclusion? C: I think that issues of equity and inclusion are really important, [and] I think that the school cares a lot about them. I think as a society, people really want to learn more about themselves as well as other people and they want to be in a place where that’s valued. So, being able to do that work is something that was really important to me. K: Out of all of your teaching positions at Urban, which one has been your favorite?
(L) Mark Salkind, taken Wednesday, May 22nd. Photo credit: Tallula Ricciardi. (R) Clarke Weatherspoon, taken Tuesday May 28th. Photo credit: Tallula Ricciardi.
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Sports
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Urban boys lacrosse players reflect on team’s tumultuous past Loki Olin
Editor In-Chief tion sparked a conflict during the conditioning phases of practice. “We did seventeen sprints up and down the goal line. We only did that once a week, but we were pretty lazy guys, so [when coach Nolan Godfrey] busted it out, we would be pretty pissed,” Bruno-Basaing said. May said that the necessary inclusion of players new to the sport made it difficult to maintain a high level of motivation for the whole team: “Lack of commitment often burdens our
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The Urban boys lacrosse team groups together for a photo after a game. Photo credit: Tikloh Bruno-Basaing.
and Kali Hayes described their experience hiring coaches for the team: “Challenging is the first word that comes to mind… It has been difficult to find the right fit,” Hayes wrote in an email correspondence with The Urban Legend. Part of this challenge stems from the team’s unusual independence from their coaches. By electing to take on responsibilities typically held by a team’s presiding coach, Urban boys lacrosse has evolved into a player-run organization — one that multiple players have described as “uncoachable.” “We were a player-run team [this year], let me make that clear,” Jake May ‘19 said. “All the defensive schemes are orchestrated by our two defensive poles. Our captain, Ben
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The Urban boys lacrosse team trudged off the playing field and toward the sideline. They had just been defeated in a May 8 North Coast Section game against Piedmont High School, bringing the 2018 season to a close. The players expected to commence with their standard post-game huddle, but something was amiss: Their head coach, Nolan Godfrey, was nowhere to be found. “He was just gone,” Tikloh Bruno-Basaing ‘19 said. “We got ready for the post-game talk and he was just gone.” The team would not see Godfrey again. The abrupt end to Godfrey’s time at the Urban School was nothing new to seniors like Bruno-Basaing, who have played under four different head coaches throughout the past four years. As the team enters the offseason, another challenge has arisen: The school will need to recruit at least four new players in order to compensate for nine graduating seniors and form a team for the 2020 season. With the future of the team resting on uncertain ground, The Urban Legend talked to current and former Urban boys lacrosse players to gain insight into the team’s tumultuous past and unorthodox approach to the game. Urban boys lacrosse coaches’ shortlived tenures serve as the clearest indication of the team’s unique identity. Urban’s Athletic Directors Joe Skiffer
The whole team walked off the field one practice. — Tikloh Bruno-Basaing ‘19
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Miller, leads our entire defense. We’ve gotten a lot of help from a freshman, Lochlain Steere. In terms of offense, I’ve had to create a lot of the offensive schemes that we have,” May said. Former player Thibault Jamey ‘20 attributed the players’ roles in forming plays to the team’s familiarity with the
game and a preference for self-sufficiency as opposed to outright defiance. “The players aren’t disrespectful [to the coaches], they have just played since they were young and are extremely good,” Jamey said. “I love [coach] Moran,” May said, echoing the sentiment that players’ larger roles were not a product of animosity toward their coach. “Moran is the man.” In certain instances, players have also adopted logistical responsibilities regarding preparation for practice. “Aaron Lee brought his own goals to practices when our practices were scheduled at fields with no goals,” William Denton ‘20 said. During the offseason, players feel that a lack of schoolwide interest has hampered the lacrosse team’s efforts to establish a stable roster. “There’s no attention to the sport,” May said. “We don’t get players. We’re usually trying to create them when they get here.” Aware of students’ dwindling interest in the sport, Skiffer and Hayes have taken multiple measures to encourage participation: “We talk to admissions and let them know there is a need [for players], [and] we work with returning leaders of that team to get the word out and host informational lunch meetings. Joe recruits kids on campus that he thinks could be interested,” Hayes wrote. Players’ varying levels of dedica-
Spring Sports by the Numbers Boys Lacrosse
(7 - 8)
Girls Lacrosse
(13 - 7)
Boys Baseball
(7 - 6)
Girls Softball
(4 - 1 - 7)
Boys Tennis
(2 - 6)
Boys Volleyball
(7 - 9)
Golf Team
(0 - 6)
Games Won
Games Tied
Games Lost
Records of Urban sports teams. Infographic credit: Ian Ryan www.urbanlegendnews.org please recycle
When you’re going through something together, as a squad, you get through it. — Jake May ‘19
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squad.” Disputes over conditioning perpetuated the tense relationships between the coaches and players. During a particularly intense workout, “the whole team walked off the field one practice,” Bruno-Basaing said. As the lacrosse team’s culture became increasingly player-centric, chemistry between teammates was paramount to the team’s cohesion. “What we lack in dedication, we make up for in team spirit. I made bonds with sophomores and freshmen this year that I definitely wouldn’t have otherwise,” May said. May felt that this sense of unity was what allowed the team to remain intact over the past four years. “When you’re going through something together as a squad, you get through it,” May said. However, the boys lacrosse team — along with Skiffer and Hayes — may not be able to muster the participation needed to form a team next year. For a group that has faced a myriad of challenges in recent years, the prospect of the team’s demise is difficult to accept. “I’ve been trying to put it out of my mind all year,” May said. “It makes me sad because I loved playing for Urban. But I don’t think there’s going to be a team next year, to be honest.”
Shoutouts to other Urban teams: Fencing: The fencing team had a good season with more fencers than ever before. At the final event of the season, the boys team finished in 8th place and the girls team finished in 7th place. Track and Field: A variety of track athletes excelled this year, with Simonne Alunan ‘20 making the first all-league team, and Peter Levine ‘20 and Nick Martin ‘19 both making the second all-league team. Swimming: The swimming team had a productive season, with an increase in swimmers on the team and students such as Henry Lipson ‘21 acheiving success by making the second all league team.
Opinions
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Editorial: It’s time for Urban to boycott bottled water Ellie Lerner, Opinions Editor, on behalf of the Urban Legend Staff As of this May, hundreds of VOSS water bottles can be seen strewn around Urban classrooms and knocked over next to recycling bins. While Flik recently replaced the sale of plastic LIFEWTR water bottles with more sustainable glass VOSS water bottles, the process of packaging, transporting and chilling any form of bottled water still has a large environmental impact. As a community that prides itself on the core value of “instill[ing] in students a sense of mission and purpose as citizens of the larger community and world,” it is wrong that Urban students continue to buy a product that is so destructive to the health of the global community.
One million water bottles are bought and thrown away each minute around the world. While buying a glass water bottle from a school cafeteria may seem insignificant when compared to the daunting amount of waste generated by humans, this small consumer habit has a surprisingly large environmental impact. Although the switch to
VOSS from LIFEWTR water in recent months has significantly reduced Urban’s plastic waste, buying both plastic and glass bottled water has become an epidemic across the country. According to Business Insider, the sale of bottled water increases 10% annually. The Beverage Marketing Corporation reported that as of 2017, bottled water became the most popular beverage purchased in the United States. VOSS markets its glass water bottles as single or multiple use containers, so, even though people may refill their VOSS bottles, most will ultimately end up in trash and recycling piles, next to millions of other discarded bottles, plastic and glass alike. National Geographic also found that it takes up to three liters of tap water to produce one liter of bottled water. Tree Hugger, an environmental media outlet, reports that, while significantly less impactful than plastic, the production of glass releases over 4,000 pounds of CO2 per ton of glass. Each VOSS water bottle has to travel over 5,100 miles to
reach San Francisco from Norway.
VOSS water bottles travel over 5,100 miles to reach San Francisco from Norway. The environmental impact of transporting VOSS water across the globe further contributes to the pollution generated by Urban students’ unnecessary consumption. Urban is not alone in indulging in this harmful habit; according to The Guardian, one million water bottles are bought globally every minute. In addition to the transportation impact of each VOSS water bottle, the marketing of the brand and the glass containers may even promote guilt-free consumption, the false belief that purchasing this brand does not negatively impact the environment. Through the guise of labeling these bottles as “Norwegian artesian water,” VOSS is attempting to play to cosmopolitan culture, in turn commodifying a metropolitan sensibility. These sleek bottles are representative of the growing trend of brands using packaging that evokes artistic aesthetics to appeal to an emerging ‘premium’ bottled water market. Despite marketing the water as “artesian,” in 2010, Norway’s TV 2 reported that VOSS uses the same source as the tap water from the Norwegian municipal water supply. In buying VOSS water, Urban students are purchasing Norwegian tap water while their own San Francisco tap water is over 1,800 times less expensive and ranked by the
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as one of the cleanest water sources in the world. In addition, the Environmental Working Group reported that, unlike tap water, the bottled water industry can hide the results of its quality testing: only one of the ten most popular bottled water brands actually provide information about the source, purification methods and chemical pollutants in their products. Ironically, by attempting to ensure the purity of the water we drink by buying artisan, extra-filtered bottled water, we are further polluting our water supply. While some people argue that it is okay to buy glass VOSS water bottles because they are easily recyclable, putting your bottle in the blue bin does not ensure that the bottle will actually be recycled. The Urban community cannot rely on a commitment to recycling to excuse buying glass water bottles when, according to the Atlantic, only 50% of what goes into our recycling bins is fully recycled.
Despite labeling themselves as artesianal water, VOSS uses the same tap water as the Norwegian municipal water supply. As part of a generation that will inherit an increasingly polluted world, it is time that Urban students take a stand and use their power as consumers to boycott VOSS bottled water, and all other bottled water brands.
Illustration Credit: Loki Olin
From the Urban Legend 2018-2019 Staff: The Urban Legend is a vehicle of student freedom of expression and a public forum for The Urban School community. It is a forum for reporting school, community and global news and for the exposition of student-generated news coverage, commentary and wit. Journalism students strive as a team to find, create and publish excellent student work in a timely manner and to provide their peers and the school community with fresh, pertinent news and diverse perspectives on a variety of events and topics. The Urban Legend seeks writers of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, races, religions, and sexual orientations. The Legend is published in print and online several times a year. Find us at www.urbanlegendnews.org.
The Urban Legend Leadership:
2018-2019
Editors-in-Chief, Newspaper: Eli Gordon Loki Olin Editor-in-Chief, Online: Phoebe Grandi Features and News Editors: Design Editor: Wes Peters Sydney Reimer Sally Cobb Managing Editor: Zella Lezak Clementine Daniel Arts and Culture Editor: Managing Online Editor: Kyra Nagle Kian Nassre Tallula Ricciardi Opinions Editor: Tikloh Bruno-Basaing Ellie Lerner Lena Bianchi Sports Editor: Every year, the final issue of the Legend is designed, edited, and led by staff Ian Ryan Adviser and Journalism members auditing for future leadership roles. In this, our final issue for the Visuals Editor: Teacher: 2018-19 year, the current leaders have passed the torch on to the Legend’s poZoe Lusk Katie-Rose Breslin Copy Editor: tential new leaders. This paper is a reflection their hard work and dedication Fundamentals of Wes Peters to the paper, as well as a preview to the future of Urban Journalism.
Editors:
Staff Writers:
Journalism Teacher:
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Caboose Summer Horoscopes
How to trick-or-treat every day at Urban Design Editor
Sydney Riemer
With the third trimester and school year coming to a close, being a student at Urban is often stressful. With all the projects, papers, and tests that come along with finals, it can often be nice to take a break: watch a TV show or maybe even eat some chocolate. As a matter of fact, chocolate and other candy can be found around Urban. As the school year comes to a close, grab some candy from the offices around Urban, and while you’re at it, thank the teachers who kindly provided it!
Fourth Floor S418: Kimberly Rojas Rodriguez, Payroll and Benefits Coordinator. Variety of candy.
Tallula Ricciardi Managing Web Editor
Aries 3/21 - 4/19 This summer, your competitive nature will get the best of you — be prepared for your pride to drown in that clear blue sea as you become so obsessed with winning that you fail at what is truly important in your life.
Taurus 4/20 - 5/20 Your friends will notice you become more vain as your self confidence dwindles. Focus this summer on splashing in the waves, not posing in your bikini!
Gemini: 5/21 - 6/20 You will probably perform at a camp talent show because your creative side is burgeoning. Come back to school as someone all the artistic kids actually want to hang out with, sharing stories about your big break around the campfire!
Cancer: 6/21 - 7/22
Third Floor S325: Kris Bailey, Director of Marketing and Communications. Variety of candy.
In groups, you will take on a parental role. Be aware that your friends will like you less if you are constantly yelling. Put on your snorkel and chill.
Leo: 7/23 - 8/22 You are extremely dramatic. This summer, you will find yourself overreacting to everything in your life. Channel your inner summer camp — think friendship bracelets and s’mores, not tears.
Virgo: 8/23 - 9/22
Second Floor S219: Monique Perry, Registrar. S220: Development, Hershey Kisses. S225: Development and Alumni Relations Office, Hershey Kisses.
While loyalty is one of your best traits, it can also be your downfall. Be aware of people’s intentions — don’t let yourself be taken advantage of by the people you have faith in. Blinding rays of sun are the goal this summer — not blind loyalty.
Libra: 9/23 - 10/22 You are extremely diplomatic, which is great! This summer, while your friends and loved ones make irresponsible choices by acting on instinct, you will remain level headed. Also, you will probably not get sunburned.
Scorpio: 10/23 - 11/21 Illustration credit: Urban School floor plans by Sydney Riemer, Design Editor.
This summer, your relaxing beach vacation will be ruined by your unwavering stubbornness. If your mother tells you it’s time to go, pack up your stuff and get a move on.
Sagittarius: 11/22 - 12/21 You are the best! You are fun and outgoing, and your summer will be a blast. Don’t let the unappealing qualities of the other signs put a damper on this summer of love.
Capricorn: 12/22 - 1/19
First Floor S114: Lauren Byrne, Associate Director of Admissions. Variety of candy. S112: Bobby Ramos, Admissions Office. Chocolate candy. Front Desk: Has snacks every so often.
You are too serious and need to let the sunshine in through that San Francisco fog. Summer is for fun and games — try not to ruin everyone else’s mood with your pessimism.
Aquarius: 1/20 - 2/18 This summer, your creative side will shine! Channel this imaginative energy into self-expression like art, writing, and music. Your future fans will thank you.
Pisces: 2/19 - 3/20 This summer, while your friends are having fun, you will be biting off more than you can chew. Don’t take on too many responsibilities; instead, get a tan and have some ‘you time’!
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